Changed and Free
by DevilsNeverCry
Summary: The Bijuu are gone. The Jinchurikki are changed. Free from his burden, Naruto sets out to find what exactly happened to the Bijuu. Though his isn't exactly mr. nice anymore.


**Chapter 1: Trick**

Mizuki couldn't believe how easy it was to trick the brat in stealing the Forbbiden Scroll. He gave a smirk as he jumped from tree to tree. All he had to do was tell him it would make him the Rookie of the Year instead of Uchiha Sasuke. He knew they had a bit of a rivalry going on so he used it to his advantage. In the end, it worked better than he hoped for. Landing at the meeting place he saw the brat named Uzumaki Naruto standing under a tree, Scroll in hand. Mizuki found the boys' posture to be a bit creepy.

He was wearing a black tank top with ninja mesh that stopped right before his elbows. Black pants and black sandels made up his lower attire tied all together with a dark orange sash around his waist. A Konoha hiati was stitched into the middle of the sash. Mizuki found it a bit weird that his spiky shaggy hair had gone from bright blonde to a dark goldenrod about two years ago but put it off as staying inside too much to avoid the villagers. But something about the boy in front of him made him wary. Narutos' eyes were shaded by his hair but his mouth was set in a vicious grin, quite different than the goofy one he seamingly had all the time until about two years ago. Right around when his hair changed too. Odd. Still he had to give the brat credit, sneaking into the Hokage Tower was no small feat and stealing a well guarded scroll no less. So he put on his "gentle teacher" face and walked up to the boy.

"Good work Naruto! Now hand the scroll to me and we can head back. I'll make sure you get Rookie of the Year, no one will be able to question your abilities surpass Sasukes for quite sometime now." Mizuki was giddy with anticipation as Naruto walked forward and handed him the scoll. Still having that creepy grin on his face. _I can't wait to wipe it off either_, thought Mizuki as he took the scroll and turned his back to Naruto to examine it in the moonlight. As he was examing the scroll though, he failed to notice the red glow coming from Narutos' shaded eyes or that his grin had widened like a predator cornering his prey. Mizuki finsihed examining the scroll and set it down.

"Now, there is one more thing I'd like you to do for me my boy," said Mizuki as his hand slowly inched towards the large shuriken on his back.

"... What would that be... Mizuki-_sensi_?" Mizuki didn't like the emphases he put on sensi.

"DIE!"

Grabbing the shuriken, he turned and threw it as hard as he could at the boy. But Naruto wasn't there. He had a confused look on his face and looked around. It seemed that the brat had vanished. Wary of what this could mean, Mizuki picked up the scroll. _Perhaps I can find Orochimaru-sama. He would reward me greatly for bringing this to him but first I think a little peak is in order for all my hard work_ he thought as he unrolled the scroll... to find an explosive note. "Wha-" was all Mizuki could get out before the note went off and sent him crashing into a nearby tree.

His face and body were burned, his left hand was useless and his ears were bleeding. As he struggled to get up, his blurred vision saw an amused Naruto standing a few feet in front of him. Flames from the explosion had kept his face shaded. Mizuki felt his rage boil inside him.

"You BRAT! How?" he demanded to know how this _child_ got the better of him.

Narutos' visicous grin never faded. "You are just too easy to read Mizuki-teme. Easy to fool too."

"You little punk! Not only did you wreck my good hand, not only did you ruin my vision, but you completely destroyed the Forbbiden Scroll! Hundreds of Konohas' most sacred and powerful jutsus gone! And for what? So a demon brat like you can get his kicks?" Mizuki had lost all reason. The Scroll was his entire reason for this charade, killing Naruto was a bonus. Now that the scroll was destroyed he would have to settle with what he can get. He got on his feet and gave a chuckle. "But what can you expect from such a clever fox?" Narutos' grin faded into a passive face.

"THATS RIGHT! You, Naruto! You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Naruto just stood there, letting Mizuki ramble. "You've always wanted to know why the villagers despised right? Thats the reason! The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside you to defeat it! You are just a fox in sheeps clothing! And now I will do what that fool of a Hokage couldn't... FINISH YOU FOR GOOD!" Mizuki waited, wanting to see the dread in Narutos' eyes. Then something happened that made him uneasy.

Naruto chuckled. "Ha... haha... Aahahahaha!" His chuckle turned into an all out laughter.

"Stop! Stop laughing damnit!" Mizuki thought that the revaltion would break his spirit. To have him laugh was damn near insulting.

"Ahaha-sorry-haha.. its just.. pfff... you are way behind the times!" Naruto said between his fits of laughter.

Mizuki had a confused look on his face, "What do you mean?"

Narutos' laughter had subsided, "The Kyuubi is gone."

"What?" Mizuki whispered.

"Yep, don't ask me how but remember the night of the red moon two years ago?" Mizuki remembered being on a mission and seeing a red moon with nine rings and nine tomoes swirling around. "Yeah, whats that got to do with the Kyuubi?"

"Don't ask me, even the old pervet doesn't know what happened but from what he told me, I wasn't the only one to lose a bijuu that night," replied Naruto as he looked at the moon. "Kinda mysterious, don't you think? All the bijuu just end up disapperaing leaving us poor jinchuriki changed and alone... Its almost freeing."

"Changed? What do you mean by... changed?" asked Mizuki. His eyes darted to the shuriken embeddened in the tree. Naruto noticied it but chose to prolong the conversation.

"Well... lets just say I'm not exactly the nicest guy around anymore, and my chakra is a bit more special than it should be... would you like to see?" Mizuki, having enough of Narutos' taunting tone, jumped up onto the tree sideways and ripped the shuriken out.

"That's a neat trick, how come its not taught at the academy?" His grin had widened to reveal his pointed canines. "Die damn you!" he chuncked the shuriken with all the strength he could given his state.

What happened next left Mizuki flabbergasted. Naruto held his right hand out and red chakra formed into a long chain like whip. Eyes glowing red, Naruto waved his arm in single motion and his chakra chain whip deflected the shuriken.

"Wha-what the-" again his words were cut off by a powerful kick to his sternum sending him crashing into the ground. Looking up, he saw Naruto grinning that damned grin of his.

"Man, that explosing really did mess you up good didn't it? Probably could've avoided that if you were in top condition." His taunting and carefree tone is what was getting Mizuki pissed off the most.

"Y-you bastard!" he coughed up some blood.

"Hey now thats not nice, I know who my dad is. Do you? Or maybe your mom had a little too much fun?" Now Naruto was just trying to get him mad. Mizuki though was in a lot of pain and his judgement was already clouded. That last jab at his deceased parents send him over the edge.

"DIE! DEMON!" he launched himself at Naruto only to be pinned with a kunai at his throat in the blink of an eye. "Well, well, you look like hell Mizuki-san," said a carefree voice that carried a dangerous edge to it. Turning his gaze to his capturerer, it was none other than the copy cat ninja himself, Hatake Kakashi. "Indeed," said a far older and more threatening voice. Mizukis' eyes widened in fear as the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen was looking down on him.

"... Its a shame you couldn't let go of your hatred and rage Mizuki-kun. Your father would be disappointed in you," said the old man with a grim expression on his face. Mizuki eyes seemed to bulge out at the mention of his father. "What do you know you old fool? You know nothing of what I've been through!"

The Hokage sighed, "Life is full of loss Mizuki. The trick is not to lose yourself with those losses. Otherwise... well, I'm looking at one result right now." With a single gesture, three ANBU appeared out of nowhere and took Mizuki into custody. Mizuki gave one last look of disgust at the Hokage and gave a mirthless smile."Good luck salvaging all those precious justu! The demon brat there felt it was necessary to destroy the scroll!" he said with a taunting tone.

Naruto jumped down and gave him an amused smirk. "Actually that scroll belong to the pevert I mentioned before. I... "borrowed" it. Nothing really lost here unless you are into smut." Kakashi had a dejected look on his face and seemed to be in mourning. Mizuki gave Naruto one look of unbridled rage before being knocked out and taken away.

"It really is a shame, he had potential," whispered the Hokage.

Kakashi nodded, "Will that be all Hokage-sama?" The wise man nodded and gave Kakashi leave to go.

Facing Naruto, who was leaning against the tree now, he couldn't help but feel that he exceeded his own expectations. "Well done Naruto-kun, you handled this expertly. I dare say it was almost too easy," said Hiruzen with a smile.

Naruto had his vicisous grin again and gave a shrug, "People are easy to fool, especially the lustful ones. Maybe if he focused more on leaving instead of taking a peak into Ero-sennins scrolls, he would've gotten the better of me. Who knows? Might've even killed me. But none of that matters now... you owe me three rounds of Ichiraku tomorrow old man!" He gave one last look to the moon and whispered, "Tonight was a good night."

And with that Naruto took off for home, needing rest after the adventure he had for today. The old Hokage gave an amused smile, "You'll go far Naruto, that much is for certain."

* * *

New story inspired by the recent trailer for Castlevainia: Lords of Shadow 2.


End file.
